Author: Emil Lazarian

CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS SATISFIED WITH UN ASSISTANCE TO ARMENIA
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 15, 2006
YEREVAN, March 15. /ARKA/. At his meeting with UN Representative
to Armenia Consuello Vidal Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II
expressed his satisfaction with the assistance rendered to Armenia
by UN structures.
The sides also discussed the mission and activities of the Holy See
of Echmiadzin, the stronghold of the Armenian faith.
The sides broached the issue of destruction of Armenian monuments
at an ancient cemetery in Old Juga, Nakhichevan, Azerbaijan. The
Azerbaijani side started destroying Armenian khachkars (cross-stones)
as far back as 1998. The destruction was stopped after the European
countries condemned it. However, the acts of vandalism were resumed
in 2003 and later in December 2005.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ATOM APLOMB
South China Morning Post
March 16, 2006 Thursday
Director Atom Egoyan set out on his latest venture as a step into the
unknown, but discovered, much to his dismay, that old obsessions have
a way of creeping back in, writes Clarence Tsui
ATOM EGOYAN shudders when he remembers his last visit to Hong Kong.
It was 18 years ago and he was here at the behest of the Hong Kong
International Film Festival, at which his critically acclaimed second
full-length feature Family Viewing was shown. The highlight of the
night was to be a post-screening meet-the-audience session.
“Nobody asked questions,” says the Canadian director, remembering the
stony silence. “And I brought my mother with me. I wanted her to see
how exciting it could be – but it wasn’t what I thought.”
This time around, the reception couldn’t have been more different.
Egoyan was in town last week as guest of honour at the local
Canadian Film Festival – his latest film, Where the Truth Lies,
was the curtain-raiser for the two-week event – and the 46-year-old
director was feted wherever he went.
The red-carpet treatment hasn’t gone to his head. Settling into his
couch, the first thing he asks is how long it takes for mail-order
DVDs to arrive in Hong Kong from overseas. Then he launches into
an passionate recollection of a shopping spree in Yau Ma Tei the
night before, where he found DVDs he has never seen anywhere else,
and original production stills of Blowup and Rashomon.
Such enthusiasm for trivia is testament to Egoyan’s reputation as an
idiosyncratic director. At the same time that he was directing Colin
Firth and Kevin Bacon in Where the Truth Lies, he was: screening his
no-budget digital video pieces at Camera, a 51-seat theatre-cum-bar
he helps run in Toronto; preparing for a production of Wagner’s Ring
Cycle; and writing a book about the cultural meaning behind film
subtitles (which was published last year).
“I want to be able to use my position to support emerging talent and
give it a space of its own,” he says. “The great thing about the bar
and the cinema is that when filmmakers show their digital features,
there can be discussion with their friends about it – and I’m proud
to be able to present this zone. But it’s tough to programme it all
the time.”
He’s able to support such work, thanks to his major projects. And Where
the Truth Lies is probably his biggest and most commercial film yet.
Taking the shape of a noir thriller, Truth revolves around the
mysterious death of a young student, Maureen (Rachel Blanchard), in the
hotel room of a Rat Pack-like 1950s comedy duo (Firth as straight guy
Vince, and Bacon as his partner Lanny). The narrative takes place in
1972, 15 years after that incident, when young journalist Karen (Alison
Lohman) is commissioned to interview the pair – whose partnership
collapsed after the death – with a view to writing an expose.
But Karen does more than just interview the pair. First, she goes
to bed with Lanny; then, she gets involved in a night of steamy
shenanigans under the aegis of Vince. It slowly emerges that Karen’s
motives are far more than just financial or sexual: her pursuit of
the “truth” is as much about exonerating her own past – she was the
beneficiary of a charity telethon the duo starred in – as it is a
quest for justice.
Known for his subtle, slow-burning films, Egoyan surprised many with
what could qualify as a conventional whodunit. Even more surprising was
the amount of bare flesh in Truth. The cast appear in various stages
of undress, including a no-holds-barred menage-a-trois that earned
the film a Category III rating in Hong Kong (and an NC-17 in the US).
It’s a far cry from his last film, Ararat, a heavy piece that examines
the Armenian genocides in 1915 and 1918. Ararat won five Genies
(Canada’s annual film awards) in 2003, among them best film and best
actress (Arsinee Khanjian, Egoyan’s wife, who has starred in nearly all
of his films). The success didn’t translate to box-office receipts –
but it seems likely that Truth will do much better.
Egoyan – born to Armenian parents in Cairo, but raised in Victoria,
British Columbia – says he adapted Rupert Holmes’ pulp thriller as a
piece of light relief. “After Ararat, I needed to do something really
different,” he says. “I remember when I read the book I was laughing
because it was so pleasurable. And I thought this is exactly what I’ve
been looking for – something so different from what I’ve done, to get
that pure enjoyment of filmmaking, creating these images and this world
with the costumes, art direction and the music. It would just be fun.”
It was also a sharp departure for his cast, Egoyan says. “One of the
reasons Colin did this film was that he got to deconstruct this persona
he felt he was imprisoned by,” he says. “As we were shooting he was
doing all the Bridget Jones [sequel] promotion and he was suffocated
by this Darcy character. He really loved this idea of deconstructing
that and stripping all that away – literally.”
The same goes for Bacon, he says. “Kevin just wanted to take risks.
So many other people that I might have approached would never play
these roles because they’re so vulnerable, but I got two people who
are, first and foremost, actors. And for Alison Lohman, who’s 26,
the characters she played before in Matchstick Men and White Oleander
were adolescents, and she wanted to break out of that mould. I think
everyone was attracted to the project because they’re redefining
themselves and not playing what people would expect.”
Leaving aside the glamour and sleaze, Truth is similar to Egoyan’s
more subdued productions. His films touch on how technology mediates
and transforms experiences – whether it be homemade videos (Family
Viewing, in which a father “erases” past memories by taping porn
over images of his ex-wife and son), movies (a director conjuring
the Armenian genocide through a film in Ararat), or voice recordings
(Krapp’s Last Tape, his film adaptation of the Samuel Beckett play,
in which the sole protagonist agonises over decisions he made, through
audio journals from his life). It’s no coincidence that Karen’s taped
interviews, the comfort she feels in rewatching old reels of Larry and
Vince’s telethons, and Maureen’s covert use of a recording machine in
the pair’s hotel room just before she dies provide the keys to Truth.
Egoyan’s obsession with the topic goes all the way back to his first
short film, Howard in Particular. Made in 1979 when he was studying
international relations at the University of Toronto – Egoyan never
went to film school – it’s a peculiar piece in which an aged worker
at a fruit-processing factory is told about his redundancy via a
tape recording.
Awards from local film festivals allowed Egoyan to continue making
independent short films while still at university (his first few pieces
were backed by Hart House, the university’s arts and recreational
centre). Provincial funding bodies contributed later on, with Ontario
Arts Council sponsoring his first feature, Next of Kin (1984), about
a young man who transforms his life by claiming to be the long-lost
son of an Armenian-Canadian family.
After spells directing episodes for Canadian and American television
– including Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone – Egoyan wrote
and directed Family Viewing, which propelled him into the limelight.
He has become a favourite at European film festivals: Speaking Parts
(1989) and The Adjuster (1991) both made it to the Director’s Fortnight
showcase in Cannes, but his major breakthrough was Exotica (1994),
a multi-layered intrigue about several dysfunctional characters
frequenting a table-dance club. It won the International Critics’
Prize at Cannes, an achievement Egoyan matched three years later with
The Sweet Hereafter.
Unlike David Cronenberg, the other, better-known Canadian director of
his generation, Egoyan basically sealed himself off from portraying
mainstream concerns – until now. He says making Truth was a step into
the unknown. Having completed the film, he discovered that a rebirth
is easier said than done.
“It was only when I started editing Truth that I realised it was
dealing with a lot of similar themes, but in a different way,”
he says. “There’s the moment when I brought out the tape recorder
[for Karen’s scenes] that I was going, ‘Oh, this is the same type
of recorder John Hurt used for Krapp’s Last Tape’. I was trying to
reinvent myself – but you never really can.”
Where the Truth Lies opens today.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CE MINISTERS’ COMMITTEE APPROVES PROGRAM OF ACTION AS PART OF ARMENIA-CE COOPERATION IN 2006-2007
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 16, 2006
YEREVAN, March 16. /ARKA/. The CE Ministers’ Committee has approved a
program of action as part of the Armenia-CE cooperation for 2006-2007,
the press and information department, RA Foreign Office, reported.
RA Permanent Ambassador to the CE, Ambassador Christian Ter-Stepanyan
reported that the program takes into account the program made by
Armenia in executing its commitments during its 5-year membership in
CE. He expressed satisfaction over the fact that the document considers
the prospects opened up after the adoption of constitutional reforms in
consolidating the human rights system, independence of the country’s
judicial power and activities of democratic institutions, through the
development of civil society, political parties and local democracy.
“The program becomes the most useful from the moment of the RA
Government’s approval of the schedule of legislative reforms, which
were necessitated by the referendum on constitutional reforms held
in 2005,” he said.
“We realize that this cooperation will help Armenia harmonize
its legislation with European standards and implement a policy of
reforms necessary for intensifying Armenia’s European integration,”
Ter-Stepanyan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SPECIAL ELECTIONS OF COUNCILLOR MEMBERS TO BE HELD IN THREE COMMUNITIES OF SHIRAK
Noyan Tapan
Mar 16 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Government stopped prematurely
commissions of councillor members of the Gusanagyugh, Ghazanchi and
Vardakar rural communities at the March 16 sitting. Making of the
decision is conditioned by the fact that within different terms, in
the consequence of stopping commission of a number of members of the
mentioned community councillors for objective reasons, the councillors’
implementation of their commissions became impossible. It was decided
to appoint and hold special elections of councillor in the mentioned
communities on the last Sunday of the 30-days term following the
day of the decisions coming into force. As Noyan Tapan was informed
by the RA Government’s Information and Public Relations Department,
the RA Minister of Finance and Economy was instructed to allocate to
the joint fund of the RA Central Electorla Commission from the 2006
reservation fund of the Government 129 thousand 125 drams (about 290
U.S. dollars), 126 thousand 565 drams and 126 thousand 610 drams for
preparing and holding special elections of councillors of the rural
communities of correspondingly Gusanagyugh, Ghazanchi and Vardakar. By
another decision, the Minister of Finance and Economy was instructed
to allocate from the Government’s 2006 reservation fund to the joint
fund of the Central Electoral Commission 125 thousand 830 drams for
financing expenses of preparing and holding the special elections of
the rural community head and councillor members of Lanjar, the marz
of Ararat, taken place on February 19, 2006.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SYUNIK GOVERNOR CALLS ON GORIS AND KAPAN MAYORS TO GET FUNDS ON THEIR OWN
Noyan Tapan
Mar 16 2006
KAPAN, MARCH 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Syunik Governor Surik Khachatrian
expressed his dissatisfaction with the Goris and Kapan Mayors’
work. “You shouldn’t just wait when they will allocate funds from
the budget for you to work. You should work with international
organizations, bring financial investments and maintain the
community. And our Mayors don’t want to work,” the Governor
mentioned. Meanwhile, S.Khachatrian mentioned that considerable
work was done in all spheres in the region in the period of his
tenure. According to him, work amounting to nearly 1.5 bln drams
(about 3.3 mln USD) was done in urban development, school building,
intercommunal and interurban roads reconstruction and other
spheres. Attaching importance to the problem of creation of jobs,
the Governor, in particular, touched upon the situation in the former
mining-enrichment complex. “I will meet with the owners, will listen
to them and then we will offer our methods and will do everything to
improve the way of life of its employees,” Syunik Governor declared,
not going into details what methods are meant.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AMERICANS MUST SPEAK UP TO STOP DARFUR GENOCIDE:
by Trudy Rubin, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.
The Olympian (Olympia, Washington)
Distributed by Knight/Ridder Tribune News Service
March 16, 2006 Thursday
Editorial
Mar. 16–PHILADELPHIA — Can an individual do anything to stop a
genocide? Let’s hope so, because governments certainly aren’t doing
much. Two years after Sudan began a genocidal slaughter in Darfur
province, the killing of black African Muslims by black Arab Muslims
continues.
No government seems willing or able to force Sudan to stop. The Bush
administration calls this killing by its rightful name — genocide —
but has yet to use the kind of political muscle that might stop it.
So it is left to ordinary individuals to act. Think you can’t do
anything? Former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle thinks you must. He
photographed Darfur’s horrors, and the images are driving him crazy.
He wants a million Americans to write to President Bush and urge him
to ensure that a strong multinational force is sent to Darfur.
Steidle, 29, was one of three U.S. military observers assigned to
the African Union, which has a toothless force of 7,000 monitors
in Darfur. The monitors are permitted only to observe a nonexistent
cease-fire. Steidle went to this killing field in September 2004 armed
only with a pen, pad and camera; he took more than 1,000 photos. The
ex-Marine had no doubt who was to blame for the carnage, which has
killed about 180,000 in the past three years and driven
2 million Darfurians from their homes. The Sudanese government,
in an effort to crush Darfur rebels, sent in its army along with
an Arab militia known as the janjaweed. Their goal: to “cleanse”
Darfur of its ethnic African population. But Steidle’s reports to the
AU disappeared down a black hole. So he quit in February 2005, went
home, met the media and found sympathetic legislators who displayed
his photos. He even met senior Bush officials. “But I couldn’t get
the administration to listen,” he says.
So he decided to approach the public directly. He wants you to
lobby for a U.N. force that would protect civilians in Darfur. He is
touring 22 cities in a campaign backed by Jewish, Armenian, mainstream
Protestant, evangelical and other groups that will culminate in an
anti-genocide demonstration April 30 in Washington, D.C. The goal:
to get 1 million Americans to send this message to the White House:
“Dear President Bush: During your first year in the White House, you
wrote in the margins of a report on the Rwandan genocide, ‘Not on my
watch.’ I urge you to live up to those words by using the power of
your office to support a stronger multinational force to protect the
civilians of Darfur.” (You can send the message via e-mail or order
preprinted postcards at ) Sudan is lobbying the
Security Council to block a U.N. force. China, which buys Sudanese oil,
is opposed, as are Russia and Qatar, the current Arab representative
on the council. Steidle believes that a U.N. force can be achieved but
that “it would take a lot of leadership from the United States.” The
White House has yet to show that leadership, despite the President’s
fine words. What’s needed now is grassroots pressure on the White
House. One million postcards and 1 million people in the Capitol on
April 30 might motivate the Bush team to lean harder on the AU, Sudan,
China and Russia to approve a U.N. force. Such pressure would also
demonstrate that there are people who refuse to tolerate genocide,
even if most of the world ignores it. Brian Steidle wants to show
that one person can make a difference. But he can succeed only if,
one by one, other Americans join in.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITALIAN WINE-MAKER INTENDS TO HELP ARMENIAN PARTNERS
Noyan Tapan
Mar 16 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Renato Loss, a famous Italian
wine-making expert with a considerable work experience in such
countries as Australia, Argentina, China, Chile, North Africa and
Georgia, was the guest of the Armenian Development Agency (ADA) on
March 15. According to the agency, although R. Loss is in Armenia
for the first time, he is well familiar with Armenian wines.
The ADA held business meetings with the participation of the Italian
wine-maker. The meetings were attented by representatives of the
RA Union of Wine-Makers, 15 wine companies, and the Italian embassy
in Armenia. At the agency, Renato Loss was told about the Armenian
invsetment climate and the repidly developing branches of economy,
the history of Armenian wine-making, and the technologies and
volumes of grapevine growing and grapes processing. R.Loss pointed
out the favorable climate in Armenia and Georgia, suitable for making
original, not traditional wines. He attached importance to Armenia’s
participation in wine-making exhibitions to be held in Germany and
Italy soon. R. Loss promised to develop a program on cooperation with
Armenian wine-makers and visit Armenia again in April or May. To
recap, the Armenian Development Agency in February 2006 signed a
mutual understanding memorandum with the Union of Manufacturers
of the Italian region of Kaserta with the aim of promoting the
Armenian-Italian economic and trade cooperation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MOB BAYS FOR ARMENIAN’S BLOOD AS IDENTITY RIDDLE DEEPENS
Standard, Kenya
March 16 2006
With a mob in Nairobi streets baying for his blood and the Armenian
government discrediting his passport, Mr Artur Margaryan was a man
under siege, even as he walked into the Standard Group offices to
deny claims linking him to mercenary activities.
Matters are complicated by the fact that information at the Ministry
of Immigration indicates he is a citizen of India and his compatriot,
Mr Artur Sargsyan, an Armenian.
Irate women scream at Artur Margaryan along Kenyatta Avenue soon
after he left the Standard Group offices at I&M Bank Tower on Thursday
afternoon.
And State House entered the fray with a statement on the name of
Narc activist Mary Wambui’s daughter, who has been listed as a
co-shareholder in a company with Margaryan and Sargsyan.
The statement, released by the Presidential Press Service, said:
“Our attention has been drawn to a story appearing on the front
page of The Standard, making reference to a company involving Ms
Winfred Wangui Mwai, whose picture also appears. We hereby wish to
state that the full names of the said Winfred are Winfred Florence
Wangui, as appearing in her National Identity Card, and the name
Mwai appears nowhere in the national registry. Kindly correct the
erroneous impression created through the use of the name Mwai.”
Confronted by angry mob
The statement was in reaction to our lead story on Thursday, where
we reproduced the names as they appear in the company’s memorandum
of understanding. The story made no reference to State House.
The PPS statement also refuted claims that some State House cars had
been seen in the vicinity of Runda, near the house rented by the two.
The Orange Democratic Movement had released a statement giving a list
of vehicles linked to the two foreigners. The movement also asked
President Kibaki to say what he knew about the intriguing saga.
Margaryan was on Thursday rescued by police from an angry mob that
confronted him in the streets soon after he left the Standard premises.
The mob shouted insults at him and followed him through the streets
as he frantically spoke on his mobile phone. Armed police repulsed
the crowd and whisked him away in a taxi.
The nationalities of the two foreigners is now in doubt after the
director of Consular Department at the Armenia Ministry of Foreign
Affairs Tigran Seiranian, said the passport number AB0322223 held by
Artur Margaryan was not in their records.
In response to our inquiries by email, Seiranian also dismissed as
false claims by the two foreigners that they were related to the
country’s president and that one of them was a presidential hopeful
in the 2008 elections.
Credibility in doubt
Artur Sargsyan claimed on Monday that he was a presidential candidate
and was related to the Armenian President Robert Kocharian. But his
name does not appear in a list of the 2008 presidential contestants
posted on the Armenian HyeForum message board website.
This latest information on the unfolding saga came as the Government
gave its first indication that it was now doubting the credibility
and nationalities of the two foreigners.
National Security minister John Michuki said he could not tell whether
the individuals mentioned were businessmen or hit men. And asked about
their nationality, he said: “Going by what you have been writing,
they could be Russians, Armenians, Americans. We will ascertain who
they are.”
He added that the Government was now investigating the two foreigners,
who came out in public for the first time on Monday to deny reports
that they were mercenaries.
The claims were first made by Langata MP Raila Odinga, who said the
foreigners were involved in the Government raid on the Standard Group
premises in the city centre and Industrial Area.
But the two men turned up to claim they had lent Raila Sh108 million
to sort out a personal problem. They also claimed Raila and Mwingi
North MP Kalonzo Musyoka had asked for Sh3 billion to finance a
no-confidence vote in the Government. Both leaders have asked the
two men to prove their claims.
Vilified for political reasons
Margaryan strolled into the Standard/KTN offices on Thursday to restate
his claims that he was an honest businessman, who was being vilified
for political reasons.
The man, who said his visit was intended “to bury the story of the
mercenary once for all”, further denied having ever been to State
House or sharing business interests with a prominent Narc activist
or a member of her family.
“I don’t know the location (of State House). I’ve not been there,”
Margaryan told journalists at a Press conference. And shown the
picture of Winifred Wangui, with whom records at the Registrar of
Companies indicate he co-shares Kensington Holding Ltd, he said she
looked like an “African lady I don’t know.”
Asked about claims that he trafficked drugs, Margaryan said he was
“very religious” and abhorred the substances, and that he had set up
an anti-drug movement in Dubai.
With a touch of swashbuckling, amplified by a bullet-proof vest he
claimed was a “medical jacket” prescribed by doctors for injuries he
had sustained in an accident, Margaryan said he felt no remorse for
the attack of a police officer in his compound last week.
He had imported more dogs just in case the police dared to raid his
house again, he warned. “I had one dog, but now I’ve six from Dubai.
If you jump into my compound, I will unleash them on you. I don’t
care if it is the CID officer or the Commissioner himself.”
Ostentatious lifestyle
He further dared the police to arrest him for concealing number
plates of “his cars” – he claimed to have three Lexus, “but I could
have six by evening if I want” -arguing that he was forced to do so
for security reasons.
Unknown people had trailed him, he claimed, although he could not
explain the irony of demanding police protection from the same force
he had chased away from his house recently.
Margaryan said he and the second man he claims is his brother had
sunk around Sh360 million into the upgrading of a slum.
Showing off expensive jewellery and at least five mobile phones that
kept ringing throughout the hour-long interview, Margaryan repeated
the claim that he had loaned Raila Sh108 million.
Asked to show evidence of the loan, he said he had not bothered to
tie the “loan” in paperwork “as he believed life was like a menu,
that you only asked for what you planned to pay for.”
He then said he had given the recording cameras used during the
transaction to a hotel manager. He claimed to have personally installed
the CCTV cameras at the Grand Regency hotel Penthouse suite from where
he said he handed over the money stashed in a “Nakumatt paper bag”.
Margaryan, however, left more questions than answers after he slyly
deflected inquiries on his apparent well-heeled and ostentatious
lifestyle.
For instance, although he insisted the upgrading process that sounded
more of charity work than investment had the full blessings of the
Government, he insisted he was yet to meet any high-ranking state
official over it.
He and his investing colleagues planned to buy land at a location he
did not wish to name as they planned “to sell the houses in peace.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA-NATO RELATIONS DEVELOP FAST
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2006 23:09 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan believes
Armenia-NATO relations are developing fast. As Spokesperson of the
Armenian MOD Head Seyran Shahsuvaryan told PanARMENIAN.Net, the
Defense Minister stated it at a meeting with colonel Mike Anderson,
a representative of the US European Command, who accompanied US
Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried. On behalf of the US European
Command Mike Anderson thanked the Minister for Armenian peacekeepers’
service in Iraq, noting their professionalism. He also thanked the
MOD leadership for cooperation and openness during the work of a US
evaluation mission in Armenia. Speaking of reforms in the Armenian
Army, S. Sargsyan said that in 10 years Armenia will have Armed Forces
that are more compatible and that meet international standards.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN VICE-SPEAKER MET WITH ARMENIAN YOUTH OF MOSCOW
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2006 23:32 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Mitk Union of Armenian Youth organized a meeting
of representatives of Armenian youth organizations of Moscow with
Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, member of ARF
Dashnaktsutyun Bureau Vahan Hovhannisyan. Matters of Armenia’s
development, Russian-Armenian cooperation, geopolitical situation
in the region, Karabakh settlement, Armenia-Diaspora relations were
discussed at the meeting. Mitk is a youth project of Russian-Armenian
Commonwealth NGO. Within the framework of the Mitk Friends’ Club
meetings with Russian and Armenian politicians and public figures are
organized, reports the Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress